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I'm hard at work again, this time at Western Ave tower, where the old B&OCT split, with the passenger mains heading east towards downtown, and the rest of the railroad turned west for Forest Park, the end of the line and a connection with the SOO Line. The CT also connected with the Northwestern via switch tenders at Rockwell and a CNW switch tender at Taylor Street., which was just a little north of here. Out of sight to the left is the old Pennsy/CJ. What is in sight in this picture is a Northwestern local coming out of Wood Street yard, rumbling across the old B&O Passenger mains. It's a fine afternoon in October, 1980, a good day to be out on the tower porch, performing our duties as assigned.
The afternoon ramp job is approaching 130th St on the former Nickel Plate Road with auto racks for the auto loading facility just a little south of this location. It's December 10, 1979 and a typical winter sky at least keeps the exposure even. The balance of the train has just about cleared Cummings Drawbridge. That long tube is the pedestrian walkway for the Ford employees to get from the parking lot to the plant. Almost forgot to add that the 2509 is right at home, having started out life as NKP 509.
N&W 6175 was a one of a kind EMD, getting the tuscan & gold treatment, along with a handful of GE's. I'm not sure why they got the special treatment, but I believe there was a precedent. The N&W did have a fleet of passenger GP9s for commuter service that wore a similar scheme back in the day. I found this beauty at the old Wabash Landers yard in Chicago back in June of 1979.
Another bird flies the coop. The famous Northwestern pig train, the Falcon, pulls out of Wood Street yard in late July, 1982 and rolls across the old B&O diamonds that once hosted the Capitol Limited and other hot varnish. We're at the B&OCT's Western Ave tower and yes, we're hard at work again. We had just lined up the Bird and taken our position to inspect the train as it passes. So happens that we had our camera with us. Nice how some things work out. Of course, everything is either gone or vastly changed since 1982. Heck, even that shining skyscraper in the background has had the misfortune of being renamed. Ain't nothing sacred?
You can tell by my photo-stream that I did a lot of railfanning "on the job." Why not, when you've got the best seat in the house and the trains came to you, not to mention getting paid for actually looking at the passing trains. So, here's another example of why I loved working the towers. We're at 49th St in Chicago and Run 219 is hustling down the hill with a train out of Corwith yard. To the left you can see the remnants of the Pennsy Panhandle, out of service, while over to the right is the Trunk's Railport piggyback yard. Llfe was sweet at 49th ST, if you could put up with the aroma from the vinegar/pickle across the tracks.
We're still on duty at Western Ave tower, just a different day. We're going back out on the porch and point our camera in the opposite direction and what do we see? A Conrail SW9, the 9131, headed north on the Pennsy/CJ with a slightly unique train. Behind the EMD butt head is an odd assortment of slightly used passenger cars. I can make out a former GM&O coach and a full length dome, last used by AutoTrain, and there's a couple more that I can't make out. Behind the train you can see the Ryerson Steel plant. The train is seen here crossing the B&OCT.
Westbound on the Buckingham Branch RR is a 185-car empty coke hopper train with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois RR heritage unit. MTY COKE PIERIX-IHB CHGO Suncoke Empties
Only twice a year does the shot happen at this spot, the City of Chicago centered between the Michigan City, Indiana lighthouse and marker, with the sun setting centered over the city. The city is 40 miles away. See the couple hugging? I talked to them later, nice people.
A Big in the City of Big Shoulders. I'm not sure how many times the Northwestern's C628s made it to ChicagoLand, but this is the only one that I managed to see. It was July 30, 1975, less than a year into my train photography hobby, and I think I might have not even known what this thing was, other than it was massive and looked powerful. I was able to see a couple more CNW Bigs up in Escanaba, MI, but my coverage of these monsters is severely lacking. I might even lose sleep over it...
We're on duty at 75th St back on January 30, 1981, enjoying the variety of trains that pass the tower. One of the neater ones is this Western Maryland chop nosed GP9, the 6410. The B&OCT crew on board has just delivered a transfer to the Belt Railway of Chicago at Clearing Yard and is on its way back to Barr Yard. A rescan from seven years ago.